Drought: Families leave farms, schools lose kids

The foreman at Coburn Farms in Firebaugh (Fresno County) walks through a field that will go unplanted this year because of drought. (San Francisco Chronicle photo)

When you think of drought, your mind might go to empty reservoirs and parched hillsides. Not necessarily declining school attendance.

But in parts of California, a lack of rain has dried up jobs — farm jobs in particular — and many families have opted to move elsewhere, often pulling their kids from school.

At some schools, this has meant less state money since school funding is based on classroom attendance.

California schools Superintendent Tom Torlakson announced Wednesday that he would exercise his power under the governor’s drought emergency declaration to stabilize funding at schools that are losing money because of lost jobs. The announcement was made in the agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley.

“Some impacts of the drought seem obvious as we see water levels drop while fire risks and food prices climb,” he said in a prepared statement. “But one of the less obvious impacts is happening every day in our classrooms, where empty desks reflect children whose families could no longer find work on the farms and ranches of the Central Valley.”

Ag jobs disappear when there’s less water to irrigate and fields that are normally farmed go unplanted.

In Fresno County, the state’s most agriculturally productive county, attendance at many rural schools has dropped because families of farm laborers have moved on, according to the county Office of Education.

A spokesperson said attendance records don’t specify which children have left because of the drought, and which ones moved on for other reasons, but that the trend is clear. Over the next few months, state education leaders are expected to work with local school districts to quantify the numbers of students lost to the dry weather so that the schools can be reimbursed.